Who will answer London’s housing questions?

Tuesday 10 April 2012 15:43 BST

The Mayoral election is in danger of becoming a story of personality politics and personal taxes. Housing is one of the biggest issues affecting Londoners' quality of life and has so far been neglected in the mayoral debates.

London’s housing situation is at breaking point, with rents at more than double the national average and deposits for homes reaching £80,000, far beyond the means of ordinary Londoners. The capital’s residents are stretched to their limits, with families needing a household income of £52,000 a year to affordably rent a typical two bed home in London.

The majority of Londoners (67%) said they would be more likely to vote for candidates who pledged to provide more affordable housing for London, according to a recent YouGov poll. With this in mind, why are we not hearing more from the major candidates about this issue?

Although each of the candidates has referred to housing policies, there has been no sustained discussion of London’s housing issues. Boris Johnson, Brian Paddick and Jenny Jones have pledged to deliver more affordable homes and Ken Livingstone has proposed a non-profit letting agency, but none have engaged in any prominent debate about housing.

From May 2012 the next Mayor will get significant new powers over London’s housing, including new responsibilities, budget and land allocations. None of the candidates have so far given a convincing account of how they would use these powers to best benefit ordinary Londoners.

Housing charity Shelter has established the Homes for London campaign to call on the next Mayor to make fixing London’s housing a key priority, and provide a unified plan for improvement. The campaign asks the next Mayor to bring together the complex web of existing departments and budgets into a simple, public-focused agency - Homes for London – to give it the same profile, leadership and coordination as there is for transport through TfL.

The Homes for London campaign is asking ordinary Londoners what they want from London’s housing and how they feel it can be improved.